Vehicle airbags are safety devices that deploy toward the interior of a vehicle to help protect its occupants from injury in the event of a crash. Airbags may be concealed behind or beneath an interior panel during normal vehicle operation until such an event. When the airbag deploys, it typically does so through a deployment opening formed in or around the interior panel. The deployment opening may be pre-formed in the panel, the panel may move away to reveal the opening, or the opening may be formed during airbag deployment at a pre-determined location in the panel. Where formed during deployment, a tear seam may be provided in one or more components of the panel to at least partially define the pre-determined location of the opening.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0062687 by Matsuda et al. describes a panel construction for use with an airbag, where a substrate member fractures at a tear line formed in the substrate member to form an airbag door. A foam layer is attached to the substrate member with hot melt adhesive, and an outer skin is attached to the foam layer with hot melt adhesive. Matsuda purports to eliminate the need for a tear line in the foam layer and outer skin by controlling the peel strength provided by the hot melt adhesives and by setting the outer skin single body fracture strength and elongation at break to values within particular ranges.